DO NOT READ THIS

Abstract

This 29 minute fictional film addresses Jacques Derrida’s concept of ‘trace’ from Writing and Difference, On Grammatology and Dissemination . On the surface, the narrative is concerned with the presence of absence, of a character Julia dealing with the aftermath of the sudden and unexplained death of her sister Thea, a writer. The research aims to explore the limits of trace within the ontology of the film medium, specifically fictional narrative and mise-en-scène and to deconstruct the concept from within mise-en-scène as opposed to materialist or structuralist approaches. It achieves this through a narrative that ‘mechanises’ acts of writing and reading via story structure (e.g. story within a story), editing (e.g. pages ripped as a jump cut) and sound design (e.g. character actions interrupting sync sound) and in so doing reflexively and actively ‘writes’ the concept (the film we see and hear) and ‘reads’ that concept (how film sees and hears). In this way, the surface narrative acts as a parable in action for the subterranean narrative that concerns Derrida’s notion of trace and by extension of deconstruction. The absent presence is the narrative itself both the concept and the impossibility, that is the impossible singularity of narrative. The film was funded through research institute funding and a teaching and learning grant and presented to public audiences at Wired Screening Room and the Electric Shadow Cinema, London (2012). Secondary outputs include 10 minute documentation.